


And I'll Be There, Whenever You Need Me.

by orphan_account



Category: New Amsterdam (TV 2018)
Genre: Angst, Angst and Romance, F/M, Fluff, Kissing, Sexual Content, reciprocated feelings, relationships
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2020-01-21
Updated: 2020-01-21
Packaged: 2021-02-27 20:27:52
Rating: Mature
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,479
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/22349545
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/orphan_account/pseuds/orphan_account
Summary: Max and Helen's first date doesn't go as planned.
Relationships: Max Goodwin/Georgia Goodwin (Past), Max Goodwin/Helen Sharpe
Comments: 11
Kudos: 60





	And I'll Be There, Whenever You Need Me.

She walked down the long corridor, her tall, all black Louboution heels clinked against the cool, linen tile floors, the sound of her heavy footsteps ricocheted as she continued her fierce gait. Her head was averted downward, her eyes were glued to the printed words on the sheet of paper that she held in her had. It was a briefing she received earlier about a patient's medical history. 

She was so enraptured in her reading that she didn't notice that Max was walking from the opposite direction heading towards her, his attention was also distracted elsewhere as he was currently typing away on his phone. The two of them suddenly collided, the papers Helen held in her hands scattered messily onto the floor as she stumbled back, nearly losing the footing of her balance. “ _Oof_.” She says. 

Max's instincts are quick; upon noticing that she was about to tumble over, he stepped forward and wrapped his arm around her waist, catching her and pulling her against his chest before she fell. “Are you okay?” He asks, his voice is filled with worry as he pulled her back enough to overlook her just to ensure she hadn't been hurt in the midst of their inadvertent collision. 

Helen nods, quickly licking her lips as she absentmindedly moved a few pieces of her curly braids out of her hair. She swallowed thickly at the feeling of her hands resting gently on his forearms. She could feel the taunt muscles in his biceps, could feel his warm breath tickling her skin, sending shivering goosebumps up her arms as he talked softly to her. 

His thick eyebrows were furrowed in concern, his lips pressed in a thin frown, worry line creased his forehead. Helen could faintly hear him jokingly chiding her about wearing heels that were taller than her, but all she could seemingly pay attention to was the movement of his lips, and the way she felt pressed against his broadened chest. 

Her mind instantly recalled of the events of a few nights ago; how they were on his couch, kissing each other feverishly. Max had invited her over for dinner with him earlier that day, saying that he'd found this perfect recipe and that he wanted to make it for her. She accepted his offer, with a smile and a confirmating nod of her head. 

He smiled widely in return, a warm blush colored his cheeks. “Okay. It's a date. Come by around seven.” 

All day, Max's words wandered around Helen's brain. _A date_. She had a date, with Max Goodwin. She could feel a different composition of emotions whirring around her, nervousness and excitement. After nearly three years of them absentmindedly dancing around this unspoken thing that they had with each other, it seemed as if they were finally going to explore their feelings for one another and see where this thing could go. She was excited.

Before, it never really seemed like the timing between them was right. He was married to Georgia, she started dating Akash; then Georgia died and she broke up with Akash, but Max was still grieving. Nearly a year had passed since his ex-wife's macabre perish and though it still hurt at times, Max began to move on. 

He moved on and was finally ready to explore his feelings for Helen. They shared a few kisses prior to him formally asking her out on a date, (yes, he blushed like an idiot the first time they kissed, it was unexpected and he was nervous, okay?), but it was never really anything official between them. And he wanted that with Helen. So, he found a quick pasta recipe online that even _he_ couldn't mess up, and walked down to her office to invite her over for dinner. 

To say that he was nervous was an understatement. He was completely terrified as he walked down the hall heading towards Helen's office. He thought that maybe she would reject him, or say that she didn't like him in _that_ way; but then she said yes and Max smiled brightly, too happy to maintain his excitement, when he left her office and he made his way back towards the ER.

She hurriedly hauled down the first taxi that came into view once she stepped out of the building after her shift that night. When she arrived at her apartment, she hastily ridded herself out of her clothing and made her way to the bathroom to clean herself up. After a much needed shower, Helen slid on a dress and touched up her makeup, wanting to look nice for her first date with Max. 

She knew that, of course, she didn't _need_ to dress up so formally for their date; it was Max, he was the opposite of formality, but still she wanted this night to be nice for them, wanted to show Max how excited she was.

When she arrived at the front door of his apartment, her timid nerves were riling her up to a frenzy. She smoothed a hand over her hair and quickly adjusted her dress before knocking. Max opened the door within those brief few seconds. His eyes widened at the sight of her, she could feel her cheeks warming as his eyes slowly breathed in her attire. 

“Hi.” Helen said, bringing her hand up in a small wave as she smiled shyly at him. 

Max blinked rapidly, closed his mouth that nearly dropped down to the floor when he opened the door and cleared his throat. “Wow, you look...way better than I do.” He frowned, looking down at his attire of jeans and a loose fitted shirt. He looked so casual in comparison to her. 

“You look great, Max.” Helen reassured him. He truly did look great despite his beliefs, he had gotten a little more buff and his facial hair had gotten seemingly scruffier and sexier over the year. His hair was a little longer too, a few pieces of it was disheveled around his head and was sticking up in a few places, but to her he still looked as handsome as ever. 

“Thanks,” He murmurs, still blushing a bit as he stepped aside and gestured for her to enter. He closed the door behind her. “I uh, asked Iggy to watch Luna for the night.” He explained as he shoved his hands inside the front of his pockets. “I wanted it to be just the two of us tonight, you know?”

And she does know. Though the night would've been good for her regardless of if Luna was there or not, she was glad that they could have some privacy tonight without the possibility of interruptions. 

“So,” He cleared his throat again before walking into the kitchen. “I hope you like pasta because this was the only simple thing I could cook up you know besides a grilled cheese. I also made garlic bread and a caesar salad. Is this too much? I feel like it is. I didn't know what you liked, I probably should've asked you that when I invited you over. If you want we could eat something else, order takeout or–”

“Max.” Helen says, interjecting his nervous rambling. “It's perfect, okay?”

“Yeah?” He asked, still feeling hesitant. 

“Yeah.”

As night proceeded by, their nervousness began to demise. Soon enough they were laughing, talking, and joking with each other at a familiar ease just like how they've always had. It almost didn't feel like a date, it felt like it was just them: Max and Helen sitting there eating dinner and enjoying each other's company. After they finished consuming the rather delicious meal, they washed the dishes then moved the rest of their night into the living room. 

They were sitting closely next to each other on the couch. They both chuckled at the awkward silence that suddenly filled the air. 

“I-”

“Maybe we should–” Helen smiled softly. She playfully nudged him against the shoulder. “You go first.”

Max nodded, running a hand through his brown, tousled hair as he inhaled a deep breath. He looked over at Helen as she raises a curious brow and patiently waited for him to speak. His mouth parts open and the skin between his eyebrows furrow almost as if he's trying to muster up the courage to say what's on his mind. 

Then, suddenly, without any preamble Max leaned forward and pressed his mouth against hers. Helen's body stilled at his avidity, but then she quickly eases into the feeling and reciprocated his feverish kisses. They kissed slowly, languidly, their lips moved in tandem. Max's hands reaches up and cradled her face within his grasp, his thumb gently stroked her cheek while he fluctuated her with soft, sensual kisses. 

Their mouths part after a moment; their breathing was ragged, lips were red and swollen. “Been wanting to do that since you first arrived.” He whispers, peering up at her through his lengthy eyelashes. 

“Next time, don't wait. Just do it.” She said, leaning forward to capture his lips into a deep kiss again. Her succulent sought his as they kissed slowly and feverishly, his mind feels clouded as he ravishes in the taste of her sweet and soft lips, tasting of the raspberry flavored lipstick she was wearing. His tongue teasingly dragged along the cusp of her bottom lip, parting her mouth open. His wet tongue intertwined within hers, wrestling for dominance as their kisses suddenly became more hungry and ravenous. 

Max is sure that her sticky lipstick is probably messily coated all over his mouth, but that caring quickly leaves his brain the moment when Helen teasingly nipped at his bottom lip, biting and licking at the plush skin. He shudders at this, at the feeling of _her_ and her sweet lips that he could kiss forever. 

His body suddenly stiffen when she placed her hand onto his thigh. 

Helen pulled back, her swollen lips puckered in a slight frown when she noticed that he had stopped kissing her. “What's wrong?”

“Nothing! I just...” He groaned as he shook his head. He hid his face in his hands and sighed deeply. “Um, we should probably stop.” 

Helen blinked, confused about the sudden change in his behavior. “Okay. Did I do something wrong?”

Max shook his head. “No.” Was the only answer he gave her. He didn't provide her with why he was suddenly acting so strange, it wasn't that she was upset, she just wanted to know if it was something that she did or said to him. For the remaining duration of the night, they watched a movie on the couch, and exchanged a few words of conversation before Helen finally left. 

She didn't understand what went wrong. Did he not enjoy the date as much as she did? She would've asked him, but he had been blatantly avoiding her since that night. Up until now. 

“New patient?” He asked as he crouched down to gather the loose sheets of papers that fell out of her hands. 

“Yeah. Bloom wanted me to look at the medical history, help give her some insight.” Helen replied, quietly thanking him as he handed the now, neatly stacked papers over to her. She tucked them away into the small folder. 

Max stood athwart from her, his hands shoved inside the front pockets of his blue scrubs, as he balanced the weight of his body back and forth onto the heel of his feet.

She could tell by the conflicted look on his face that he wanted to say something but didn't know how. He scratched at the hair on his chin. “I'm sorry about the other night and for acting weird these past few days,” He begins, lowering his head as he sheepishly rubbed at the back of his neck. 

“You were ignoring me, Max. I thought that we were having a good time and then you–”

“We were.” He assures her. 

Helen frowned and warily shook her head. “Then what happened?”

Max pursed his lips together in a thin line. His gaze averts away from her smothering scrutiny and flickered towards the tiled floor. The countenance of his face shifted into a sullen glower. He lowered his head further before finally admitting, “I haven't... _you_ _know_ since Georgia,” He murmurs lowly under his breath. 

Helen stood there momentarily confused as to what innuendo he was referring to until she finally came to the realization. 

“Even before she died we didn't do it a lot, because of the cancer and her being pregnant.” He looked visibly embarrassed by this confession, his skin was almost resembling the color of a tomato, and he had yet to meet her gaze again. “That night when were kissing, things started to get a little heated and you touched my thigh—”

“Max.” Helen sighed. She took a preemptive step closer towards him and tucked a hand under his chin, lifting his head so that they were at eye level. “When I touched you I just got lost in the moment. I didn't mean for it to imply that we had to have sex.” 

“No, I know.” He shakes his head and ran a hand down his face, sighing exasperatedly. “It's just that was the first time anyone has touched me so intimately like that, in a while you know? And for a moment, that thought did cross my mind but I didn't want to come off as a sleaze who was trying to get you naked on our first date, or have you think that I only invited you over for sex, because it's not. You mean so much to me, Helen and I've wanted to ask you out for so long but I didn't know how, and that night I was so damn nervous and started overthinking about doing or saying something stupid and ruining everything. But I guess I already did that anyway.” He chuckled wryly, shrugging his shoulders in despair. 

Helen smiled softly. She placed a hand on his shoulder and looked him in the eyes, “You didn't ruin anything. And, hey, we can take things slow if you want. There's no rush. Just, the next time you feel this way, talk to me. Okay?”

Max nodded his head in agreement. “Okay.”

“Good,” She says before leaning forward to press a kiss against his lips. She smiled softly when their mouths parted with a soft, wet sound. “I gotta go meet Bloom and talk more about this patient. Come by my office later?”

Max wrapped an arm around her waist and sweetly pecked her lips.“Mhm. I'm making burgers for dinner tonight. Wanna come by eat and watch a few Disney princess movies with Lu and I?” 

“Looking forward to it.” She says, smiling as they kissed once, twice, thrice more before finally prying their wet mouths apart and heading to their perspective destinations. 

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Let me know if you guys want a chapter 2. (The next part might be of their first together.)


End file.
